16 Bipartisan Congress Members Urge Biden Administration To Make Cannabis Scheduling Review Transparent

As many as sixteen bipartisan congressional lawmakers signed a letter Thursday urging the Biden administration to make marijuana scheduling review available to the public.

There is no doubt that cannabis scheduling will be a burning topic among many other issues at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in Miami (April 11-12) where top CEOs, investors, leaders, advocates and politicians will share their thoughts, ideas and experiences.

What happened

Last October, President Biden announced he will pardon all prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession, and also called on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to review marijuana's classification under federal law as a schedule one drug, the same classification as heroin and LSD. Several days later, HHS secretary Xavier Becerra confirmed that the agency is ready to reassess cannabis' status as a Schedule I substance.

"I think you're going to find that we're going to move as quickly as we can, but, at the end of the day science is going to take us to a solution," Becerra said at the time.

Now, a group of 16 congress members led by Representative and Congressional Cannabis Caucus co-chair Earl Blumenauer (D) sent the final version of the letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Becerra asking for more transparency of the review, first reported Marijuana Moment.

Opportunity For Honest Assessment

The lawmakers wrote that the ongoing reviews are a chance to make an “honest assessment of the origins and implications of federal policy,” noting that the current cannabis status as a Schedule 1 substance was based on stigma, not science and that the time has come to address this. 

“To ensure accountability in your conclusions — which has been absent in so much of the history of federal marijuana regulation — transparency is key,” the letter reads. “We urge you to make available for public review and comment any evidence cited to demonstrate marijuana is more prone to drug abuse than descheduled substances already regulated at the state level.” 

According to Blumenauer and his 15 colleagues as well as FDA commissioner Robert M. Califf (who was CCd), simply rescheduling marijuana is not enough. 

“To correct the failed war on drugs and cannabis prohibition, the assumption must be that, unless evidence undeniably indicates that marijuana is more prone to drug abuse than unscheduled substances already regulated at the state level, marijuana should be fully descheduled from the Controlled Substances Act,” the letter reads. 

Furthermore, the lawmakers highlighted that descheduling would “not negate Congress’ obligation to act on comprehensive federal cannabis reform.”

The only Republican congressperson to sign the letter is Nancy Mace, a conservative representative from South Carolina's 1st congressional district, who is known as a passionate cannabis legalization advocate.

Other lawmakers who signed the letter include Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee, Lou Correa, Dina Titus, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Mark Pocan, Jim McGovern, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Jared Huffman, Jan Schakowsky, Nikema Williams, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Donald Payne, and Val Hoyle.

Photo: Benzinga edit with images from Wikimedia Commons and Holi Concentrates on Unsplash